It's all hands to the pumps - GBBF 2002 Preview
The pub industry and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) rarely agree on anything. Licensees resent customers interfering in their business and drinkers can't understand why pubs can't cater for their every whim.
But there is one thing at least that they should be able to pull together on - getting people to drink more beer.
Beer festivals, especially the biggest one of all, the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF), have an important part to play in raising the profile of cask ale, stirring up fresh interest in the product and encouraging people to try unfamiliar styles and brands. With the promise of a high quality pint they are also a good place to introduce newcomers to the art of cask.
Festivals are CAMRA's most fertile recruiting ground - and that includes recruiting licensees to the cask ale cause.
Out of the 45,000 people who visited last year's GBBF, 2,500 attended the trade session on the Tuesday afternoon and according to CAMRA half of those were publicans carrying out vital research for their profession.
It hopes to get even more along this year and has introduced a Meet the Brewer initiative to enable licensees to talk through the finer points of pints with the men and women who make them.
So rather than grumbling about why all those people are drinking at the festival rather than in your pub why not join them? As part of its controversial full pint campaign CAMRA is guaranteeing full measures at the event.
So it might be worth turning up just to try and catch it out.
More on this year's GBBF
The event itself: With over 400 different brews on show, the Great British Beer Festival at London's Olympia aims to be the biggest and best yet. We take a look.
Ask if it's cask: The festival sees the launch of the third phase of CAMRA's generic Ask If It's Cask campaign, again targeting young men and women with sexy advertising...read on.
Entertainment: Entertainment at this year's festival includes music from veteran jazz trumpeter and master of the double entendre Humphrey Lyttleton, as well as traditional pub games, a pub quiz and more. For more on entertainment at the festival click here.
Trade sessions: Each year the festival sets a free seesion for the trade - find out all the details here.
Lager drinkers: Contrary to what you might think, the festival does welcome lager drinkers. Sceptical? Take a look.
Information and travel: For opening times, dates, and details of how to get to the festival, click here.
List of brewers exhibiting: Find out if your favourite brewer is exhibiting this year - check the alphabetical listingof all of this year's exhibitors.
